New Delhi, Aug 31 - India's official auditor has said that Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries is reluctant to share information about its books of accounts for an audit of the Krishna-Godavari gas fields, and has called for clarity on the issue of access.

In a letter to the petroleum ministry dated Aug 26, Principal Director of Audit K.R. Sriram also said the minutes of the meeting Aug 17 pertaining to the audit of Krishna-Godavari and the Panna-Mukta-Tapti fields were issued without his office's consent.

'We are, therefore, indicating our remarks on these minutes, which may please be incorporated and the revised minutes sent to us for our record,' said the two-page letter to D.N. Narasimha Raju, joint secretary exploration in the oil ministry.

'The understanding of our audit team was that during the meeting the contractor's representative expressed considerable reluctance to provide access to records for the previous years till 2006-07,' the letter said.

'While we are fine with the week starting Sep 21 for the meeting, such a conference will have full purpose only when we have documented clarity about our exact audit access,' said the letter pertaining to the meeting on Krishna-Godavari gas.

The content of the letter assumes significance in the light of allegations that Reliance Industries had gold-plated -- or grossly overstated -- the capital expenditure for the production of gas from the Krishna-Godavari basin.